Special Education Law

By kstiver17

  • American School for the Deaf

    The American School for the Deaf was the first permanent school for deaf children in the country and is the birthplace of American Sign Language (Connecticut Historical Society, 2017). The establishment of this school led to more schools for the deaf to open around the country and established a deaf culture which persists to this day.

  • American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

    The American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) was founded in 1876 under the name American Association on Mental Deficiency (History of special education timeline, n.d.). AAIDD is the oldest and largest intellectual disability advocacy organization and has since published manuals on the definition and classification of intellectual disability (AAIDD, n.d.).

  • Beattie V. Board of Education

    In 1919 the Wisconsin Supreme Court determined that schools could expel public school students on the basis of their disabilities (Yell, 2015). This was one of many rulings which upheld the exclusion of children with disabilities.

  • Council for Exceptional Children

    The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) was founded in 1922 by a group of educators at Columbia University and has gone on to set professional standards, develop professional development, and advocate for special education law reform (CEC, n.d.).

  • Rehabilitation Act

    The Rehabilitation Act passed in 1973 and prohibits the discrimination of individuals with disabilities from any federal agency, federal subcontractor, or any other program receiving federal funding. Section 504 and 508 have particular impact on education as they prohibit discrimination in federally funded programs and require information technology be accessible (Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion, n.d.).

  • Education for All Handicapped Children Act

    The Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EAHCA) of 1975 ensured that all students with disabilities have access to a free appropriate public education (Ahart, 1980). This act established a requirement for evaluation, individualized education program (IEP), and for students with disabilities to be educated with nondisabled peers.

  • Section 504 Regulations

    After nearly a month of sit-ins and protests by disability activists, the federal government implemented regulations to enforce section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Crowley, 2023). This ensured that all federally funded buildings and programs must be accessible to people with disabilities.

  • Americans with Disabilities Act

    The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law by President George H. W. Bush in 1990. ADA protects people with disabilities from discrimination in employment and public services (Yell, 2015). In education, ADA extended the reach of 504 and impacted public schools as employers (Yell, 2015).

  • Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

    The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was an amendment to the EAHCA which resulted in a name change to IDEA, as well as several significant changes to the law. The 1990 IDEA reauthorization saw traumatic brain injury and autism added as disability categories and added the requirement for individual transition plans be included in a student’s IEP (U.S. Department of Education, 2024).

  • IDEA reauthorization

    IDEA was reauthorized in 2004 in an attempt to align IDEA with the No Child Left Behind Act. Some of the additions from 2004 include higher standards for special education teachers and staff, higher standards for educational outcomes, and early intervention for students not yet labeled as having a disability (U.S. Department of Education, 2024).

  • Equity in IDEA revisions

    The regulations of IDEA were revised in 2016 with the purpose of ensuring equity for students receiving special education services. The revisions included measures to identify any disproportionate identification of students for special education and to find the cause of such disproportionality. The revisions also addressed the disproportionate disciplinary action for students with disabilities (U.S. Department of Education, 2024).

  • Illinois House Bill 5276

    This piece of state legislation amended the Children with Disabilities Article of the School Code. House Bill 5276 requires that a student’s individual transition plan includes considerations for assistive technology, both before and during post-school activities such as employment (103rd General Assembly of Illinois, 2024).